This fall, I have been running a battle with egg eating in the hen house, I split the flock up, moving hens into different flocks, trying to make it more space, less birds per Sqaure feet, more outside time, more feed pans, more water pans, more quiet nest box’s, some up, some down, going out six times a day, trying different bedding in the box’s etc, and still the eating continued and I got more and more grumpy with the production I was getting with my girls..
So finally I said ENOUGH! I butchered out the smaller flock that no matter what I did, I could not get even a fifth of the eggs I should, if I could get it when the hens where still sitting, I would get eggs but otherwise, forget it.
The other pen was doing better, some nests didn’t seem to be raided as much as others, but it was clear that I was still having regular loss’s, I culled out chickens that were found with clear egg eating evidence (yolk etc on head feathers) and kept culling downward on the age in that pen..
Then I had a baby fit at the cost of feed giving the egg return I was getting and did a huge butcher out, leaving me with just nine hens, all late winter hatched girls in their prime, two breeds, all brown egg layers, and just coming one year in age, and I gave them a break to certain in to the new flock and voila.. Snoopy Dance of Joy!!!
These eggs are lovely, and boy are they big! They are Extra Large for sure..
Just another Day on the Farm 
So, there you go; that’s why farming is all about making the tough decisions – what’s best for everybody over the long haul. Better stock: for their health and strength of the line (AND overall prosperity of the farm).
Good for you!
It is really hard because you like your girls and you wish you could just say to them.. stop that or else but push come to shove, there is no point in overwintering or keeping a flock that is having that kind of issue, when it comes to egg eating it just becomes a group thing.. the one hen starts, and she is eating and then the next thing you know 3 or 4 more try it and then it just snowballs from there.. Sometimes if you can figure out the right hen and get her out fast, you can retrain the rest of the flock and be ok but once it gets to a certain point, you just have to cut your loss’s and cull hard.
They’re huge! How many did you get from the nine girls? And how many did you start with?
I think I’ve asked before, but what breed(s) do you have? L says that we should get Cornish Rock chickens, but the only chickens that I have so far *seen* (as opposed to reading about online) and liked were Rhode Island Reds. (I think that L has Leghorns)
http://www.freyshatchery.com/Chickens.shtml#DualPurposeBrownEggLayer
Right now my girls are Black Sex linked and Red X, I tend to buy from a local at the one bird sale for dark brown leghorsn, he does a great job at keeping the hens broody and they make great moms, typically the girls live and hatch out for 3 to 5 years, my last girl ended up taken by the fox, or I would have kept her, I will get a new girl or two in the spring at the sale.
I also really like Frey’s New Hampshire Cross’s, those three hens, and I get Bard Rock Roosters to cross them with and I am always happy with the resulting offspring for both laying and for eating.
How many did I have, hmmm, I had just over 40 birds in total, ranging in age between just under one year up to five years in age.. It was a bad year in regards to chick’s hatching, good for ducklings but not for the chicks.
I have tried a number of breeds in regards to who seemed to have the best flock protector and dancers for the hens and I keep coming back to the Bard Rock Roosters..
Opps, forgot one question, averaging about five daily but I am not offering extra light either, so that is really good for this time of the year, and they did molt so they are just all coming back on time in that way as well..